224 



the Birds of Provence, and a few every year frequent the 

 southern parts of Switzerland, France, and Germany. The 

 bird from which our figure was taken was shot in May, 



1827, by the bailiff of Robert Holford, Esq., at Kingsgate, 

 in the Isle of Thanet. This specimen is in the possession 

 of R. B. Hale, Esq., M.P., of Alderly, near Wootton- 

 under-Edge, in Gloucestershire, who obligingly allowed 

 me the use of it for this work. One example of the Bee- 

 eater is recorded by Rusticus to have been shot in a garden 

 in the town of Godalming, in Surrey, a few years back ; 

 and a specimen was shot during the autumn of 1839, at 

 Christchurch, in Hampshire, for the knowledge of which 

 I am indebted to the kindness of my friend T. C. Hey- 

 sham, Esq., of Carlisle. 



In Dorsetshire, a Bee-eater was shot at Chidcock, and is 

 now preserved in the Bridport Museum. Three specimens 

 are recorded by Dr. Edward Moore as having been killed 

 in Devonshire. In Cornwall, according to Mr. Couch, four 

 specimens occurred in the parish of Madern in 1807, and a 

 flock of twelve visited the neighbourhood of Helston in 



1828, of which eleven were shot. The only instance I am 

 aware of in which the Bee-eater has occurred in Ireland, 

 is that recorded by Mr. Vigors in the Zoological Journal 

 as having been killed on the sea-shore near Wexford, in the 

 winter of 1820, and preserved in the collection of James 

 Tardy, Esq., of Ranelagh, near Dublin. 



Four or five examples of this bird have been obtained 

 in the counties of Suffolk and Norfolk. One killed at 

 Beccles, in the spring of 1825, is in the possession of the 

 widow of the Rev. H. F. Howman. Among the more 

 recent captures of this species are, one in Sussex, in 1850, 

 two in Norfolk, and one in Essex, in 1854, and one at 

 Freshwater, in the Isle of Wight, in June, 1855. Mr. 

 Thompson, of Belfast, has referred to one that was shot in 



